Villa Mondriaan
museum in Winterswijk
On the edge of the centre of Winterswijk there is a small detached villa from the second half of the 19th century. In this modest house, Piet Mondriaan spent a great deal of his youth. At the initiative of the Mondriaanhuis and the Freriks Museum in Winterswijk, Wim van Krimpen, under the supervision of the gallery and former museum director, worked on a small new museum focusing on the artist's early years. With the generous support of the States-Provincial and private sponsorship, the project was designed and realised within a few months - a little miracle in a time of recession and substantial cuts to culture budgets. In the Pentecost weekend of 2013, the new museum was opened in the presence of Princess Beatrix.
| location: | Winterswijk |
| design: | 2013 |
| realisation: | 2013 |
| structural engineer: | Pieters Bouwtechniek |
| advisor - technical installations: | Adviesbureau van der Weele |
| contractor: | WBC Bouwgroep |
| photography: | Luuk Kramer |
situation
Piet Mondriaan, Jacobskerk with tree on the right side
Piet Mondriaan, View of Winterswijk
The museum consists of the artist's parents' house and an opposite building on the corner of the street, also originally a house. Both properties have been renovated for the occasion. A new building volume has been added on an empty intermediate plot between the existing building along the shopping street and the corner building. A broad glass corridor alongside the garden connects the three buildings.
ground floor
first floor
The architecture is sober and contemporary, with references to the craftsmanship of existing buildings and pre-war Winterswijk.
east façade and north façade
The new building volume is the core of the ensemble, containing exhibition spaces for the drawings and paintings of the young Mondriaan. It features two classical exhibition rooms, stacked together, with parquet floors, white walls, carefully crafted daylight and artificial light, an advanced and invisible air conditioning system and a beautiful staircase with views of the house and garden.
The façades consist of cemented bricks. The closed façades feature a subtle pattern that has been applied in an enlarged form as a transparent structure covering the glazed corridor. The route through the new museum begins in the corner building with a small shop and a café.
Jan van der Ploeg, WALL PAINTING No.356, Untitled, 2014
opening by Princess Beatrix, 21 May 2013
After a visit to the exhibition rooms, the new hallway leads to the garden, with a new garden room and the actual house used for receptions and several artistic projects. Here one can admire the view of the church tower from Mondriaan's room on the first floor, painted by the artist as a 16-year-old in 1888.
Jan van der Ploeg, WALL PAINTING No.355, Untitled, 2014
